Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Why am I shocked? Except to wonder where do people find their ideas? I wonder where these theories are concocted…during a dream? On a drug binge? Creativity at its worst? Have you heard the latest scandal in the life of Jesus? That’s right! A scandal. Director Paul Verhoeven has written a biography on the life of Jesus. He reports that Mary was raped by a Roman soldier during an uprising which resulted in the birth of Jesus. See "Jesus was the Son of?!"

Call me naïve, but I am amazed by the things that people will write with no shred of evidence or basis. However, after reading that Verhoeven was affiliated with the Jesus Seminar, now I realize how people begin on slippery slopes. When people begin to question the foundation of Christianity, then we will eventually throw the proverbial baby out of the bathwater.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Last year this time, we were up half the night trying to soothe a new born. One thing has changed! She's now a year old. Here are a few pictures of Claire's first birthday. Both of our parents came to Martietta to join the festivities. While the grandparents enjoyed spoiling her with their love and time, Nicole and I enjoyed a few nights out on a date. You parents will understand.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Ruth 2:20 “Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, ‘May he be blessed of the Lord who has not withdrawn his kindness to the living and dead.’” I will be teaching from this verse on Sunday on the meaning of grace. Now I know that there is an exegetical problem in the text: “who is the antecedent of the pronoun, who?” Is Naomi referring to the Lord or to Boaz? Either way I believe that God is demonstrating His kindness to Naomi through Boaz. Indeed God is grace, but He chooses to use you to convey His grace.There are so many ways that we can demonstrate God’s grace to others. When the world sees us serving and ministering to our community, our acts should represent the grace that we have received from our Lord. Joseph Sittler defines grace this way: “The fundamental meaning of grace is the goodness and loving-kindness of God and the activity of His goodness in and toward creation.” How has God shown grace to you? How are you showing it to others?

Thursday, April 3, 2008

There are two things in life that you can never retrieve: lost time and spoken words. These two entities are forever gone. Once you miss an opportunity in time, that moment fades into the past. Though there may be similar opportunities in the future, that particular opportunity at that moment has passed. That opportunity was ripe with its moment in time, yet one can never retrieve it again. Likewise, spoken words can never be revisited. Once words have been spoken, the possibility of taking them back is gone. To retrieve spoken words is like “letting out water,” (Proverbs 17:14), it is impossible to gather it together again. What a vivid reminder to us about our speech. The Bible admonishes us about the use of our tongue and its influence on others. Whether we believe it or not, our words carry a lot of weight and power. Just ask yourself the last time you were encouraged or discouraged by someone’s words to you. Solomon was wise when he correctly noted that “death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21). How do you pepper you speech? Does it build or tear down?